The Home Growns
12. Infiltrate Gaps with Airy Companion Plant Fillers
The Naked Stem Dilemma
So, remember how I just told you to ruthlessly strip the bottom six inches of leaves off your plants? Well, my kids actually used to joke that my summer flower beds looked like a flock of weird, green flamingos.
They were totally right, because removing that lower foliage leaves you with a bunch of skinny, knobby, bare stalks poking straight out of the dirt. It is absolutely mandatory for preventing powdery mildew, but I have to admit it looks incredibly awkward.
When you are trying to create that lush, overflowing cottage garden style, seeing naked stems completely breaks the magic illusion. I needed a clever way to keep that crucial air circulation flowing along the ground without making the front of my garden look totally stripped and barren.
The Sweet Alyssum Illusion
My absolute favorite trick for hiding this ugly phase is planting a thick, lacy border of low-growing companion plants right along the edge of the bed. I am personally obsessed with using trailing sweet alyssum for this exact job.
These delicate little filler flowers stay incredibly short and thrive in the exact same full sun conditions as your taller blooms. They essentially grow into this gorgeous, fluffy white cloud that completely masks the bare zinnia stalks hiding right behind them.
Plus, their tiny, shallow root systems will not steal deep water away from your main crop, and they actually act like a living mulch to keep the organic compost cool. You get a perfect, floor-to-ceiling wall of vibrant color while still leaving that vital air tunnel totally open in the back.
But hiding the bottom of your garden won’t matter at all if the heavy tops suddenly snap and crash into the dirt after a rough summer thunderstorm, so hit that next button below and I will show you the completely invisible grid trick I use to support the heaviest blooms!
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